DIY GPS Tracking for Your Android Device

Productivity Sauce

Sep 29, 2015 GMT

Dmitri Popov

Being able to pinpoint the current position of your Android device can come in useful in many situations, but using a third-party app or service may not appeal to privacy-conscious users. If you are one of them, Self-Hosted GPS Tracker might be right up your alley. It consists of two parts: 1) a simple Android app that obtains geographical coordinates and sends them to your own server, 2) a couple of relatively simple PHP scripts parse the pushed data and display the position in an OpenStreetMap-powered map.

To get started with Self-Hosted GPS Tracker, clone the project's GitHub repository or download the source code as a ZIP archive, and move the PHP scripts from the server-side folder to a directory in the document root of your web server. Install then the accompanying app from Google Play Store or F-Droid, configure the app, and tap the Track button. Point then your browser to http://127.0.0.1/path/to/i-am-here.php to see the device's last known position on the map.